Kerry, Patrick, Menino to speak in CSC Friday Northeastern will host John F. Kerry’s second annual Massachusetts Procurement Conference and Business Expo in the Indoor Quad of the Curry Student Center at 3:30 p.m. Friday. U.S. Senator Kerry, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and Northeastern President Joseph Aoun will be speaking at the event. Banks and other lending institutions will be in attendance to discuss loans and financial structuring. Also representatives from security firms will discuss issues on bonds. Exhibitors will include small business and contracting officials from federal, state and local government procurement offices, as well as several hospitals, colleges and universities, prime contractors and independent franchisers. For additional information contact the Northeastern Office of Government Relations at 617-373-3168.

-Mary Ann Georgantopoulos, News Staff

President Aoun creates new Chief of Staff position President Joseph Aoun created a new Chief of Staff position on Jan. 3, and appointed Mark Putnam, chief planning officer and director of the Office of University Planning and Research. Putnam, who has worked at Northeastern for seven years, will be responsible for leading presidential initiatives, as well as current activities related to strategic planning and Northeastern’s upcoming re-accreditation with the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. The position was created because Aoun saw a need for integration and alignment of initiatives across the university, Putnam said. Putnam will oversee the operation of the President’s Office, and the planning and research office will continue to report to him. Putnam has a doctorate in higher education administration from Columbia University and a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Nyack College.

-Mary Ann Georgantopoulos, News Staff

Resident assistant applications due Friday Applications to be a resident assistant in the fall are due Friday by 5 p.m. to the department of Residence Life. Applicants must be of at least sophomore standing, have a QPA of 2.5 or higher, be in good standing with the Office of Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution and have good financial status with the University and the Department of Housing Services. If chosen as a resident assistant, students must attend summer, winter and spring training sessions, as well as weekly staff meetings and one-on-one meetings with their supervisors. Resident assistants work about 16 hours per month as a proctor in addition to other required hours. Applications can be filled out at www.ra.neu.edu. -Mary Ann Georgantopoulos, News Staff

Queer Caucus hosts same-sex, bi-national talk Queer Caucus, the School of Law’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Student Association and Northeastern’s National Lawyers Guild chapter are sponsoring a forum on immigration policies affecting bi-national same-sex couples. The panel will include Adam Francoeur from Immigration Equality and will focus on the human, legal and political aspects of the issue. The forum will be held Jan. 19 in 442 Curry Student Center from 4 to 7 p.m.

-Mary Ann Georgantopoulos, News Staff

Award-winning Canadian architect gives lecture John Shnier, founding principal of Kohn Shnier Architects in Toronto, will give a lecture at 6 p.m. Jan. 22 at Raytheon Amphitheatre. The School of Architecture hosts the lecture, called “Just One Idea.” Shnier was Canada’s first winner of the Prix de Rome in Architecture. He has also been nominated for the Chrysler Design Award and the New York Architectural Leagues Emerging Practice Awards. His 10-person firm’s work has been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and retained for the museum’s permanent collection. Shnier is currently an associate professor in the graduate program at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Architecture for Landscape and Design.

-Mary Ann Georgantopoulos, News Staff

Student panel discussion on Mass health policy Northeastern and the Institute on Urban Health Research will host a student panel discussion based on the experiences of students at the Massachusetts Health Policy Student Forum and to the Forum’s issues. The event will take place Jan. 18 at 6:30 p.m. in 220 Behrakis Center. Seven Northeastern students participated in the The Massachusetts Health Policy Student Forum, which was created in 1998 in an attempt to bring public and private health care leaders together to engage in discussion on critical health policy challenges. Students from Northeastern as well as Brandeis University, Boston University, Boston Medical Center, Harvard University, Simmons College, Tufts University and UMass Boston and Amherst took part in this year’s Forum. Through the work of Dr. Hortensia Amaro, Distinguished Professor and Director of the Institute on Urban Health Research, Northeastern students were able to participate in the forum for the first time.